


Stitch it all up

by caprigender



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, gender nondescript reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 14:11:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5378138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caprigender/pseuds/caprigender
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working as a training dummy is rough but it pays the bills and sometimes you get to meet interesting people.</p>
<p>And sometimes you end up having complex feelings for these interesting people.</p>
<p>Based on headcanons by tumblr user lanternlighting</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stitch it all up

**Author's Note:**

> I call Mad Dummy Maddie cause written in large capital letters and messy handwriting it looks like "MAD DIE" and I feel like Mad Dummy would find this amusing and use it as their nickname.

There was absolutely nothing suspicious about a purely professional type relationship, and that’s exactly what Mad Dummy kept telling themselves day after day. It was only normal. They were a combat dummy and you sometimes felt the need to practice combat training. It wasn’t a glamorous way to make a living, but somebody had to do it and Maddie enjoyed it way more than snail farming. They were just the ghost for the job and they stuck to this conviction in spite of questions like “Wait, why does anyone need to do this job?” “Don’t we have inanimate practice dummies for this?” and “Why does a ghost need to ‘make a living’ anyways?”

Questions like that usually earned a witty retort along the lines of “Fuck you!” followed by a barrage of magically flung cotton stuffing. Regardless of naysayers, that was their life. That was their profession. And you just happened to be a regular customer. Well, as regular as a human could be in this line of business.

Humans didn’t really go to ghosts for much. They were wigged out by ghosts more than they were by other monsters, something about old human superstitions and the absolutely absurd belief that ghosts might be the souls of dead humans. Maddie didn’t really mind that they stayed away. Humans were rude and ugly and obnoxious and most monsters found them terrifying. It wasn’t until they met you that Maddie realized some humans found other humans terrifying, too.

That was why you kept coming back, Maddie was sure. There was fear in your eyes during each training session and a fire that was more than a little bit scary. You hit harder than any monster they’d met but it still wasn’t enough and you came back day after day and practiced and fought and tried to hold yourself together. Whatever opponent you were training to face couldn’t have been a monster, and that left just one other possible opponent, really. Maddie huffed at the sheer foolishness of it all. Being afraid of your own damn kind? Humans were ridiculous. Ridiculous! Ridiculous!! And aside from paying customers, Maddie wanted nothing to do with them.

And then you had surprised them, and really that was already a difficult thing to do. You insisted on stopping by every few days, no appointment, no gear, no body armor, just a small cookie tin full of sewing supplies and a heart full of good intentions. That was harder for Maddie to wrap their head around. Twice a week, like clockwork, you would trot up with your kit and ask where you needed to stitch. And Maddie would refuse at first. They would rave about how foolish you were, how this was a waste of time and the stitches would all come apart again anyways and it wasn’t like they were going to die, but then you would smile. You would smile and laugh and ask again where to stitch and all their arguments dissolved in the air and there they would sit, blushing like mad as you stitched them up to your heart’s content.

They couldn’t pinpoint when your stitching started to get fancier and less utilitarian, but they’d enjoyed the touch of personalization it gave. And they couldn’t remember when you’d first brought up the idea of embroidery tattoos but they knew exactly when you’d brought out the design you’d drawn up for them, a rudimentary skull and crossbones. And they knew it had been exactly three days later that they’d stopped playing tough and accepted the gift. The soft-threaded patch still looked equal parts cute and badass. It had taken them fifteen minutes of awkward silence and three minutes of awkward stumbling sentences to say thank you and the way you had lit up with pride made it worth every effort.

Eventually Maddie realized they couldn’t remember when their crush on you had started, but there it was staring them plain in the face and there was only one thing left to do about it.

Deny it to the high heavens.

So no, there was nothing going on between the two of you, there never had been and there never would be. They were a training dummy and you were a paying customer. Your relationship was purely professional and no amount of shared tenderness, soft hands, and hidden sighs would ever end up changing that.

What did you really think such a sweet, caring human would ever go for a bitter, angry ghost inhabiting a ragged and ripped up mannequin? Foolish. Foolish! Foolish!!


End file.
